


perfect

by bookworm116



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 12:29:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7801882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookworm116/pseuds/bookworm116
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>arnold thinks he wants everything to be perfect, he believes he wants to marry lila...<br/>but he's wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	perfect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reader4books](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reader4books/gifts).



> this was a request from queenofshire405, hope it's okay!

"errrghhh..." Helga muttered to herself as she felt the baby kick once again.

changing her second born, she walked into the kitchen to discover.... the entire floor was covered with mud.

Anna, her oldest child, was trying to reach the cookie jar. she had mud all over her feet.

"what did you do, just go out and have a bath?"

helga got to her knees to clean the floor.

the baby kicked again.

Helga was upset at arnold.

he promised he'd be home within the week, but she'd heard nothing for almost a month now.

she couldn't call him, because apparently his cell phone broke and since he was traveling the world there was no other way to contact him.

she put Tommy, her second child, down to sleep. anna however still wanted a cookie. so helga promised her one if she promised to take a nap.

but when helga crossed the kitchen, she slipped on some mud she'd missed and fell flat on her back.

helga sighed, got up, and put anna in bed.

all helga wanted to do was take a nap.

why wasn't arnold there to take care of her?

helga was just lying down to go to sleep when a knock came from the door.

"oh. arnold."

"i'd think you'd be happier to see me, helga."

helga sighed and leaned against the counter.

"it's... been a rough week. i called you but you never answered."

"i told you, my cellphone's broken."

"so buy a new one!!"

"helga, you need to rest-"

"no. nuh-uh. get out of my face, arnold! you didn't tell me where you were! i was worried about you!"

arnold glared at her.

"i  _said_ i'd be home before the month was up, and here i am."

helga erupted.

"YOU said you'd be home within the WEEK! you're lying, arnold! how am i gonna manage, not even knowing if you're bringing in the paycheck and having to take care of three kids all the time?!"

normally arnold would have tried to soothe his beloved.

but he had just been traveling for a while, a 14 hour flight, and he was a little tired of helga's screaming.

"i GOT the paycheck, OKAY?"

"just GO, arnold! leave MY house!"

"your house?! i bought it for you!"

"LEAVE!"

arnold grumbled but finally went to the backyard, where he sat in the hammock.

"sometimes i wish i'd just married lila."

arnold was about to close his eyes, but then he saw a little glowing figure standing on his nose.

"you asked for a wish, mister arnold! your wish has been granted!"

arnold sat up.

"my what?"

but the figure was gone.

"weird."

but he looked down, and his hammock looked different.

in fact, the whole house looked different.

it looked... cleaner.

"oh, arnold, there you are!"

arnold stood up on the perfectly pristine lawn.

he discovered that he wasn't wearing his regular clothes anymore, either.

he was wearing a white suit.

and there in front of him... stood... LILA?

her red hair was thrown into a tight bun, and she herself was wearing a suit of her own.

"oh arnold, you're looking ever so handsome today!"

three children walked out the door.

lila kissed arnold, and then she was off, getting into her car.

"what? wait! lila!"

a little girl that appeared to be the oldest was standing before him now, and she was saying...

"father, i need to be driven to daycare now."

arnold looked up from trying to figure out where he was.

"daycare? why can't lila just watch you?"

the little girl looked shocked.

"watch me? that's ever so  _wrong,_ father! Mother and you have ever so important jobs, and you need to be getting to yours now."

arnold stumbled backwards.

"...right."

arnold went to his job, after he dropped the kids at a daycare.

his job was an office job. unlike where he worked before.

before he got to travel the world, and here... he just sat and organized papers.

_i guess it was unfair of me to expect helga to watch the kids all the time._

the job was really boring, and he found himself staring out the window.

and then he saw.... out his window... a familiar person.

she was standing on the street, talking to brainy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"thanks, brainy. you have no idea how much this means to me."

brainy smiled despite his raspy breathing in and out.

he held some flowers out to helga, who took them and blushed.

"aw, thanks. i guess i could go out with you. i mean, all i ever wanted was to be loved."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

arnold frowned, up in his office. looking down on her, helga looked carefree and still young.

when he came home, finally, he discovered they had two maids, a chef, and a butler.

it was amazing. the food was perfect.

everything was perfect.

it was starting to creep him out. a lot.

he missed helga's burnt mac-n-cheese, and anna's sticky fingers as she tried to get him to play with her in the block tower.

"so... do you play with any toys?" asked arnold, a little unsure of himself.

"certainly, father!"

anne (an odd name since  _helga's_ first baby's name was anna.) took his hand and led him into the "play area."

an intricate block tower was laid out, and anne sat down on a cushion.

"this is where the people in the office work," anne said, pointing to some little men who were sitting at what appeared to be an office.

arnold sighed.

anna's block towers were always odd and a little crazy at times, but her stories she made up were all about adventures.

Arnold had given her a little byplane for her birthday, and anne would use it to smash the towers.

everything was really, really, creepy here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

helga sighed.

this day had been pretty good, but as her and brainy stared out into the sunset together, she couldn't help but think about arnold.

brainy was so nice, but he didn't make very good company.

he was always.... breathing, in that way of his.

helga really missed arnold, who had never even known that she loved him, and who married lila the second she said that she "like-liked" him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

arnold woke up, expecting it to all be a dream, but there was lila sleeping next to him.

he gasped.

and then he realized:

he was sleeping in the same bed as lila!

that... somehow didn't appeal to him as much anymore, and he realized what he had to do.

he went to the store and got a little by-plane. 

he put it at the top of his daughter's tower, and wrote a little message. "never let your spirit of adventure go to waste."

he ran out to the perfect hammock, and started talking to no one.

"look, whoever granted my wish, i'd like to take it back. i really miss helga and i can't live here anymore. please."

he opened his eyes, and there was his old hammock, the one with the little hole from when anna had been jumping around with him and accidentally got her toe stuck.

arnold grinned.

he was back.

he ran inside the house with the sliding glass door that didn't open all the way, back to his muddy kitchen. he rounded the kitchen and went through the living room, happy to see the messed up blocks and the little flag that was his hat.

he grabbed his hat and put it on.

he hadn't worn it in forever, it seemed.

he ran upstairs, laughing that three of them creaked. no perfect stairs, no perfect blocks.

he opened his bedroom door, and saw helga asleep.

_i might not have everything perfect, but i have you, and that is more important._

he hugged helga and kissed her on the forehead.

"hello, helga. i love you."

"yeah, yeah, football head, lemme sleep."

helga rolled over and arnold laughed and bounced onto the bed.

"chipper, are we..." helga mumbled.

anna entered the room, running after her father with her still muddy feet.

arnold didn't care.

he  _did_ have the perfect family.

 


End file.
